Trump's Chief Strategist Says News Media Should Keep Its Mouth Shut [View all]
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON Stephen K. Bannon, President Trumps chief White House strategist, laced into the American press during an interview on Wednesday evening, arguing that news organizations had been humiliated by an election outcome few anticipated, and repeatedly describing the media as the opposition party of the current administration.
"The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile," Mr. Bannon said during a telephone call.
"I want you to quote this," Mr. Bannon added. "The media here is the opposition party. They don't understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States."
The scathing assessment delivered by one of Mr. Trumps most trusted and influential advisers, in the first days of his presidency comes at a moment of high tension between the news media and the administration, with skirmishes over the size of Mr. Trumps inaugural crowd and the presidents false claims that millions of illegal votes by undocumented immigrants swayed the popular vote against him.
Mr. Bannon, who rarely grants interviews to journalists outside of Breitbart News, the provocative right-wing website he ran until last August, was echoing comments by Mr. Trump this weekend, when the president said he was in a running war with the media and called journalists among the most dishonest people on earth.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/business/media/stephen-bannon-trump-news-media.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
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